Former President Donald Trump responded to the new gag order recently placed on him by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, calling it an “unthinkable” assault on his First Amendment rights.
On Sunday, Chutkan, who has been overseeing the case regarding Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Washington, DC, reinstated a narrow version of the gag order that would bar the former president from making “public comments targeting prosecutors, court staff and potential witnesses,” according to the Associated Press.
The outlet noted:
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the federal case charging Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, had temporarily lifted the gag order as she considered the former president’s request to keep it on hold while he challenges the restrictions on his speech in higher courts.
“But Chutkan agreed to reinstate the order after prosecutors cited Trump’s recent social media comments about his former chief of staff they said represented an attempt to influence and intimidate a likely witness in the case,” it added.
Trump responded to the order in Truth Social post on Monday:
I have just learned that the very Biased, Trump-Hating Judge in D.C., who should have RECUSED herself due to her blatant and open loathing of your favorite President, ME, has reimposed a GAG ORDER which will put me at a disadvantage against my prosecutorial and political opponents.
“This order, according to many legal scholars, is unthinkable! It illegally and unconstitutionally takes away my First Amendment Right of Free Speech, in the middle of my campaign for President, where I am leading against BOTH Parties in the Polls,” he continued. “Few can believe this is happening, but I will appeal. How can they tell the leading candidate that he, and only he, is seriously restricted from campaigning in a free and open manner? It will not stand!”
As Breitbart News previously reported, appointed in 2014 to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by former President Barck Obama, Judge Tanya Chutkan has been known to give some of the harshest sentences for January 6 defendants, with some even going beyond government recommendations.
In 2021, Chutkan ruled that hundreds of pages of the former president’s White House records could be turned over to the January 6 investigating committee despite Trump’s objections.
Chutkan wrote:
The court holds that the public interest lies in permitting—not enjoining—the combined will of the legislative and executive branches to study the events that led to and occurred on January 6, and to consider legislation to prevent such events from ever occurring again.
According to Open Secrets, Chutkan also donated to the 2008 and 2012 political campaigns of Obama.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
